Advocates for MPS see missed chance

GOP budget could have addressed city’s poverty

Nearly all children in Milwaukee schools are living in poverty. More than half of them do not have basic reading or math skills. And a third of their schools meet few or none of the state’s expectations.

The state’s largest school district’s financial picture isn’t much brighter.

The task before Milwaukee school officials is enormous: improve the low academic skills of nearly 40,000 children while repairing an unsustainable spending plan.

At a time when the school district says it needs the state’s help, millions of dollars proposed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers just for Milwaukee schools have been rejected by Republican lawmakers who are writing the next state budget.

“This is not a budget that is particularly friendly to a school district — particularly Milwaukee — that struggles with poverty and struggles with issues that are frankly beyond kids’ control,” Evers said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Milwaukee Public Schools Board President Larry Miller said the state budget as it’s written will maintain an unacceptable status quo and exacerbate the inequities in the educational experiences between black and white and affluent and poor students.

“It’s an injustice, and it’s unfair,” he said. “Madison is feeling it. Beloit, Racine, Kenosha are all feeling it. And this has to change.”

But Republican lawmakers say their budget — which provides schools statewide with a $500 million increase in funding for a total K-12 spending package of $12 billion — gives the district an infusion of millions and seeks to improve students’ reading skills.

Senate Education Committee Chairman Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, said it’s easy to blame the state but noted the Milwaukee district spends more than the state average on each student and could seek a referendum if more money is needed.

“That’s always easy, but that’s not taking responsibility,” Olsen said. He said the budget’s plan to increase the percentage of special education costs the state reimburses from 25% to 30% will free up needed money to spend elsewhere in the district, too.

Miller said the decision to disregard Evers’ proposal reflects an attitude that ignores the fact that wealthier communities are able to successfully pass referendums more often and more easily than poorer school districts like Milwaukee with students who are more expensive to educate.

“Race is clearly a factor in this,” said Miller, whose district is 90% students of color.

Evers proposed a $1.4 billion increase for schools that included:

$10 million for a partnership between Milwaukee Public Schools and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to develop and implement a plan to improve math skills in the district. Currently, about 85% of students in MPS are not proficient at solving math problems.

Changing the state’s formula for

funding schools to provide more money to districts with students living in poverty. About 87% of Milwaukee students are considered economically disadvantaged, according to the Department of Public Instruction.

$14.7 million for the Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Green Bay and Kenosha school districts to pay for summer school and early childhood programs, community engagement and principal training.

$500,000 in grants to help Milwaukee recruit teachers of color. More than half the district’s staff is white while about the same percentage of students are black.

Evers said his attitude toward school funding is to provide more state support for districts with more students with disabilities, students who are learning English as a second language and students living in poverty.

“Everyone knows that’s going to cost more money,” Evers said. “As a result, the state has to do more than their share with those districts with those challenges and this (GOP-backed) budget does not. It goes back to almost exclusively giving everyone an equal amount of money, and not only is it equal, it’s awful small.”

Olsen has championed education issues in the state Legislature for years and supports changing the school funding formula to account for poverty. He said lawmakers have passed state budgets that include money for MPS to boost academic skills, including for reading programs.

“One of the things I get a little nervous about is us dictating what they should do, because everything has strings attached,” he said. “If the state gives money ... we expect results. And I’m not sure there’s been results and, honestly, I think sometimes some folks in Madison have sort of given up.”

But Miller said lawmakers are “turning their backs” on the significant funding proposed by the Legislature’s recent Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding “I feel that there are people in this state who are willing to let children of color suffer,” Miller said.

“We have a debt to these children,” Miller said. “We as a state promised equity and adequate educational funding in our constitution. And we’re not meeting that promise.”

Olsen, who headed the commission, backs the idea of changing the funding formula to account for poverty and has proposed the measure as a bill — though it’s an idea that has been rejected repeatedly by Republicans in recent years.

MPS is in the process of hammering out its $1.2 billion budget for 2019-’20, an increase of about $11.7 million over the current year.

Superintendent Keith Posley’s proposal would add 108 positions, including 60 teachers, 2.44% cost-of-living raises for many employees; pay increases for the lowest-wage workers as part of the “Road to $15” initiative; and maintain current health care rates through January 2020.

Board members have adopted several amendments, and they are expected to vote on the plan as early as next week.

But a new report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum raises concerns about the budget, saying it leans heavily on a number of “unsustainable” measures, including accounting adjustments, the prior-year surplus and underfunding facilities, to make ends meet and does nothing to address the $108.5 million deficit that is projected over the next five years.

The report describes MPS’ long-term financial prospects as “precarious,” saying it will need to consider significant cuts to fringe benefits, transportation and facilties. And even then, it may not be enough without additional revenue from the state, or local taxpayers in the form of a referendum.

State lawmakers set the spending level for K-12 schools on Thursday, but Evers said he’s still going to seek changes to it. “I think we can do a lot better than we’ve done so far,” he said.

But Olsen and Republican lawmakers who have the power over whether changes are made aren’t likely to change their minds.

“The sad part of this deal is a lot of times urban areas like this are a money generator tax-wise for the state, but it seems like Milwaukee seems to be needing to receive ... because there’s issues there,” Olsen said.

Evers said Milwaukee schools “need to double down” and make sure their teachers and curriculum are creating successful students.

“But poverty is an issue that impacts not just education but housing, transportation and health care and if we decide to take a pass on all those issues or even just one of them, we’re not doing our job and that’s troubling to me,” he said.